Two Gifts From the CIA

The best time of year to release a scandalous report in the press is during the holidays. No one is paying much attention and the folks in Congress are just trying to wrap up the budget and go home to open presents. Well, the CIA gave President Bush two presents early this year. The first one being their intelligence estimate on the nuclear capabilities of Iran stating, rather succinctly that the Iranians had stopped any military nuclear enrichment programs in 2003 -- exposing once again what complete liars Bush and Cheney are, because they've known this for some time now, and have been trying to hold it back. What's more, Bush insists Iran might go back and start producing again, so we must be prepared to bomb them into oblivion anyway!

I really have to admire the sick and twisted logic of our "born again" Christian President offering tidings of apocalyptic annihilation for the high holy days, and may peace be with you too this season George, Amen. Fortunately both Congress and the American people have wised up significantly since the last time the liar-in-the-Whitehouse wanted to take us to war on trumped up intelligence reports. Creating fear and angst is such a religious experience.

What most Americans don’t understand clearly is the role our country has played in screwing things up in Iran, going all the way back to the summer of 1953 when the CIA sent the grandson of President Teddy Roosevelt, Kermit, to Tehran to plan the coup d' tate against the democratically elected prime minister Mossadegh and installing the Shah to power.

This little known history is explained in great detail in Stephen Kinzer's book, All The Shah's Men -- An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, which includes who and how we paid to overthrow the legitimate government of Iran, with about $20 million, and why this betrayal of our "democratic" values gave rise to the Shiite Muslims and the fall of secular governance. The echo from this book reiterates -- those who are ignorant of their past are bound to repeat it. Which is just what we have done.

If you're not too shocked by this piece of clandestine history, it's actually a very good read and would make a great gift even if Bush will never read it.

Now for the second gift from the CIA -- Oops we erased the torture videotapes! And now, those who are actually still curious and paying attention (unlike our Congresswoman Jane Harman, who sat on the House Intelligence Committee until rightly being bumped off by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi) are asking, "Whose ass is being covered?" This is just more ammunition for all of you pining for impeachment, for surely Bush and Cheney and probably Rumsfeld knew about these illegal torture chambers -- the CIA just doesn't act without authorization from the top. This was confirmed by a former CIA agent who was interviewed on ABC's Nightline the week of the torture announcement. He said that at every step-up in the torture procedure, authorization would have to be given from the top. Meaning from Washington? "Yes," he answered.

This agent, now retired, went on to say that even though he had some "misgivings" about waterboarding (which is not a new Olympic sport, but the technique of simulated drowning of the victim) he believed that the ends justified the means in this case! This justification comes because this is after all, "the war on terrorism" and not a conventional war. Well the problem is we haven't fought a conventional war since Korea and Congress hasn't actually declared a war since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The issue is that since the end of the last legitimate war, our CIA has been amassing all of the best torture techniques known to man, even publishing a torture manual that was exposed in a 1997 Freedom of Information Act investigation by the Baltimore Sun newspaper -- possibly, one of the last acts of true journalism by the American mainstream press.

So here I am this year watching the fireworks explode at the Port of Los Angeles Centennial celebration with Ray Charles singing God Bless America, and afterwards the crowds thin out going home to a lighted Christmas tree or a Chanukah Menorah or past Godmothers for a shot of brandy feeling all warm and safe. Yet I can't help but think what we'd find out if we put Bush and Cheney on the waterboard for just 30 seconds this season. I know it's not very Christian of me to say so, but it certainly would make me feel a whole lot more at peace with mankind if they would just fess up and tell the truth -- yeh this is sort of like still believing in Santa Claus -- but it's the thought that counts, right?

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